Page 28 of The Brave and the Reckless (Bravetown #1)

GOODE’S GENERAL STORE

Goode’s supplies you with paraphernalia to make your stay at Bravetown the best it can be. Need to replenish your sunscreen stock? Searching for a rain cape to keep you dry? Goode’s got you covered.

E SRA

I stared at my reflection in the mirror and ran a hand over the buckle around my waist. I wasn’t entirely sure how safe it was to wear my leggings over the harness instead of under it, but I was in the fuck around and find out phase of my summer. Literally.

Maybe this was the wrong call, but when I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Noah’s tongue between my legs, the internet had stupidly suggested baking to clear my mind.

My singular attempt at that had only shown that I was not meant to have a clear mind.

I was meant to stare at my brother’s best friend’s glistening wet pecs, completely entranced by the dribble of water from that one white streak above his left brow, and feel the overwhelming urge to lick his stomach.

Screw making sound decisions .

Embrace chaos.

Especially when it felt as good as Noah Young’s mouth on my clit.

I just had to adjust my wardrobe. Since I only had two pairs of leggings in tones that worked under the costume, I couldn’t let Noah rip up both of them.

I wasn’t even sure if he would.

Maybe what had happened in Ace’s Hideout had been a blip. I wasn’t about to confuse a man pushing his gloved fingers into me with a declaration of love. More like a quick hate-fuck, of sorts, just to get all the frustration out. I still wanted a repeat.

Last night, the moment in the basement had been tense, sure , but he’d reverted to treating me like a nuisance.

How on earth did you tell the man you despised that you still wanted his head between your legs?

I know you like me as much as a pebble in your boot, but the way you licked my pebble …

We don’t have to tickle each other’s fancy to tickle each other’s privates.

You might think I’m a pain in your ass, but why don’t you slap my—

Ugh.

Of course, today’s show went perfectly. Noah didn’t miss a single cue.

Every single move landed exactly as rehearsed.

I should have been glad, but by the time we made it to the hideout, I was seething with annoyance.

Apparently yesterday hadn’t affected him as much as it had me.

He’d just casually given me the best head of my life, and then returned to business as usual.

I stomped to the far side of the hideout, putting a few feet of distance between me and Noah. Maybe this whole thing would be too complicated anyway. Sanny had begged me not to make a mess of things for him here. Asking his best friend to eat me out again was definitely messy.

I turned to look at Noah and clear the air, but startled when I realized he’d followed me. He towered over me, all sharp lines and shadows in his costume.

“Look,” I sighed, “about yesterday…”

Noah’s gloved hand folded over my mouth.

I dropped back against the wall, blinking up at cold eyes surrounded by shade.

The mask and hat made it impossible to see his expression, and my insides squeezed tight in response.

Seeing him like this was the moment before the roller coaster drops you over the edge.

The thrill mixed with the biological instinct to take flight.

Instead of shaky tracks rattling my nerves, it was his leather glove pressed against my lips, when I knew exactly where that glove had been yesterday.

His other hand slid down my stomach, drawing a shaky breath from my lungs.

One click, and the headset’s quiet buzz in my ear died.

A moment later, he shut his own mic pack off.

Right. He needed me to be quiet. Didn’t want everyone to hear about our thing . It made sense, but I was still a little disappointed.

At least until I realized he wasn’t letting go.

His gaze lowered as he watched my chest rise and fall over the sweetheart neckline of my dress. The sharp focus grazed across my skin more intensely than any touch could, raising goosebumps in its wake. With every second my heart beat faster and my breaths came quicker.

When his eyes flicked up again, pale blue through thick black lashes, they held a question.

I’d spent the last weeks pressed against Noah, moving with him and around him, learning to read the shifts in his body language, so I knew exactly what he was asking with his muscles completely still and his eyes locked on mine. I nodded.

Still holding my mouth shut, Noah whirled me around. He locked his other arm around my waist, keeping my back pressed against his chest. My head hit his shoulder. I blinked up at him, the raw cotton of his bandana scraping over my cheek.

“I think I finally understand what bewitching means,” he rasped as he walked us forward.

Was he calling me a witch ? I tried to retort but my voice was muffled by his hand. Any logic and reason evaporated instantly around Noah. That was the only explanation I had for why I clamped my teeth around his thumb. Hard, so he’d feel it through the leather glove.

That asshole chuckled. He didn’t even flinch. “Case in point.”

The fronts of my thighs hit the table.

“Bend over. Elbows on the table.” He loosened his hand from my mouth, and I unclenched my teeth.

“Telling me what to do? How original.”

“Do you prefer being handled, princess?”

“Handled?”

Noah left one hand on my waist but slid the other to the back of my neck.

With one strong push, he bent me down. I barely managed to slap my hands against the tabletop to retain some balance.

I swallowed. He’d positioned me flush in front of him.

There were too many layers of clothes between us to feel anything more than the heat of his firm body pressed against me, but the mental image was enough to spark the flame in my abdomen. So much better than being given orders.

“Yeah,” I breathed, “I prefer that.”

“Noted.” Noah hiked my dress up. The skirt layers pooled around me, and I braced myself for his touch, but it didn’t come. Noah sucked in a sharp breath. “That makes things easier.”

“Don’t rip these ones too,” I huffed. I started pushing myself up, but Noah brought a large hand down on the small of my back, keeping me pinned in place.

He curled his fingers into the thick belt of the harness.

Something strange and deep unclenched inside me as I realized that I trusted him enough to just… let him.

Noah pushed my leggings down my thighs. His gloved hand came back up, smoothing over the curve of my ass and sliding into my panties.

He squeezed my flesh, just enough to open me up a little.

Maybe I should have felt a little self-conscious about being bent over and exposed like that, but it just sent my pulse racing.

“Fuck,” I rasped. One of my arms whipped around. I wanted more of his touch, needed to feel him. My fingertips barely brushed the hem of my panties before he caught my wrist. His grip locked it behind my back, holding my hand alongside the harness.

“Tsk-tsk. Hands off. That’s mine,” he growled.

“You wish,” I huffed.

“Do you let anyone else touch you like this?” His thickly gloved thumb slid to the junction of my thighs. He swirled it around my entrance leisurely. Teasing me.

“None of your business.” I pressed my forehead against the smooth wooden tabletop, desperate for even a little bit of cold. Noah fucking Young set my nervous system ablaze.

His finger brushed over my clit, smooth leather spreading my arousal over my sensitive skin, only for his touch to leave me as he tugged my underwear aside.

“Do you get this wet for anyone else?”

“None of your business,” I repeated.

His hand came down against my ass in a fast slap and I squealed as the sharp sting reverberated up my spine.

I felt him stiffen behind me– not in the fun way.

He was waiting for my reaction, waiting for me to tell him he’d crossed a line.

He had no idea that I’d been rehearsing ways to ask him for exactly what he was giving me.

“No one else. And usually not this fast,” I answered his question honestly. “I blame the costume. You put on the mask and the feminism leaves my body.”

In response, another slap hit my ass and I moaned, the searing pain morphing into an entirely different heat.

His hand smoothed over my skin and circled down to my pussy.

He brushed over it tenderly, pulling soft gasps from my lips, only to then deliver another slap.

He repeated the whole thing, once, twice, three times, keeping me on the edge between gentle and rough.

It was too much and it wasn’t enough, all at once.

“Noah, please.”

A leather glove landed in front of my face just before he thrust two fingers into me. I arched my back, pushing against him.

There’d been something deliciously wrong about his gloved touch, but it didn’t compare at all to his bare fingers inside me. His thrusts came hard. The ridges of his knuckles and the precise angle of his fingertips steered me toward my climax faster than should have been possible.

I moaned and gripped the edge of the table for support with my free hand. Noah’s hold tightened around my other one, keeping me locked in place when my hips started quaking. The tension in my core clenched tighter and tighter and tighter.

“Please,” I whimpered.

“Ask me.”

Recalling my words from yesterday, I groaned. Of course they’d come back to bite me in the ass. I hated having to be polite. “Noah, would you please be so nice and— fuck.” He shifted his fingers, hitting a deeper angle that had me curling my toes.

“What do you want, princess?”

“Come. I want to come. Please,” I gasped, struggling for air.